Needle-carrier for knitting-machines.



F. WILCOMB.

NEEDLE CARRIER FOR KNITTING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 30,1916. RENEWED JULY 1!. 1917.

Patented Feb. 5, 1918.

F. WILCOIVIB.

NEEDLE CARRIER FOR KNITTING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 30.1916. RENEWED JULY II, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented Feb. 5, 1918.

FRANK WIIICOIMB, 0F NORRISTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T0 WILIBMAN MFG. G0., 0F NORRISTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

NEEDLE-CARRIER FOR KNITTING-MACHINES.

reamed Application filed June 30, 1916, Serial No. 106,840. Renewed July 11, 1917. Serial No. 180,017.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRANK WELCOME, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of N orristown, Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Needle-Carriers for Knitting-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

Une object of the invention is to provide means for the guidance of the web holders and needles at the verge of the needle carrier, particularly in fine gage machines in which under the usual practice of slotting the carrier for the reception of the needles and web holders the walls left betweenthe needle slotsand the web holder slots would be so thin and irregular as not to be serviceable as guiding means, and furthermore, the

metal being soft is easily bent or broken, thus preventing these walls from performing their intended functions.

A further object is to rovide such a construction of the verge o the needle carrier as will afford proper support for the fabric and proper control of the new yarn in preventing the latter from being trapped in the web holder grooves.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists in the features and combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings:

Figure I is a sectional view of part of a needle carrier for knitting machines.

This represents a carrier or cylinder adapted for circular machines though the invention is not limited in. this respect. The view represents the improved device in place on the left side of the cylinder, whereas the right hand side of the figure represents the formation of the carrier ready to receive the said device.

Fig. 2 is a front view of my improved needle carrier.

Fig. 3 is a plan view.

Fig. l is a detail view.

Fig. 5 is a front view diagrammatic in form with the needle in place and the web holders in section.

Fig. 6 is a plan view in the nature of a diagram showing the disposition of the loops and new yarn.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view'in the nature of a diagram showing the needle drawing the new loop into the fabric.

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 7 with the new loop fully drawn intothe fabric.

Fig. 9 is a detail view of a modification of the invention.

In carrying out my invention I employ channeled members or quills 9 preferably formed of tempered steel of U-shape in cross section inserted in the needle grooves at the upper end of the carrier with their channels forming continuations of the needle grooves for guiding the needles.

Ihe grooves 10 formed in the cylinder or its web ring have their walls cut away from a point about midway of the height or length of the quills, as shown at 11, in Fig. I and as the web holder guiding slots in the top of the cylinder or web ring thereof are of awidth equal to the distance between adjacent quills the walls of the quills form substantially continuations of the guiding walls of the web holder slots. The quills may be held in placeby being fitted tightly in the grooves of the cylinder or web holder ring or as shown at 12, the quills may be provided with notches and the metal of the walls of the cylinder or web ring may be swaged into these notches. By applying force the quills may be removed for renewing in case of damage. These quills being formed of tempered steel can be made of very thin ma.- terial.

As shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 7 the quills are formed with their back walls extending slightly above the top of the needle cylinder or web ring and from this point the walls incline downwardly and they diverge from each other, as shown in the front views 2 and 5. The upper ends of the quills serve to support the old fabric loop so that the new yarn can bedrawn through the old loop, as indicated in Figs. 7 and 8, without dragging the old loop down with it.

Furthermore, the side walls of the quills at their upper ends 13 or at their edges which converge toward the center back line of the quill perform an important function of acting as guard means to prevent the new .yarn from being caught in the outer ends or specification of Letters Patent. Patented Fish. 5, IQI...

. is employed its tail portion does not contact with or support the fabric loops, because they move in a sharply inclined direction. They provide, however, an angular or inclined supporting surface for the yarn extending from needle to needle approximately in the vertical plane of the needle nose, regardless of the position of the web holder about its pivotal point.

Reverting to the use of the quills it has been found in machines of very fine gage that it is necessary to leave the vergeof the cylinders without any needle guiding groove atall at that point, because the formation of the interspaced web holder grooves leave such thin partition walls that they will not stand up or maintain their relative positions and even if they did, they could not be rendered smooth enough to serve as yarn or fabric supporting walls. Therefore it is the custom to have no divisional wall between the needles at the verge of very fine gage machines, reliance being had instead upon the web holders interspaced between the needles to serve in place of such walls. The U-shaped quills disclosed above provide guiding walls for the needles at the verge of the cylinder and being made of tempered steel they are strong, rigid and durable and being formed of very thin metal they can 7 be employed in the finest gages of machines.

As referred to above by the two side walls of the quill supporting the new yarn, it is impossible for this yarn to be forced into the web holder slot and thus interfere with the proper casting off of the old loop when drawing the new loop through the old loop the latter lying on the top of the cylinder verge, as shown in Figs. 7 and 8 or to a limited extent it may be drawn down into the quill but in no case can the old loop be spread sufliciently to be caught in the slot of the web holder.

The upper end of the quill being slightly above the upper surface of the cylinder or web ring provides a point or bearing which acts as a holding or retarding element against the outward and downward dragging of the fabric when the needle retires and is drawing the new loop, and as the web holder advances the fabric is free to be pushed toward the center of the machine the incline of the side walls of the quill permitting this action to take place freely, because It offers no resistance to the inward movement of the old loop.

As illustrating the mechanical difficulty in making needle carriers or cylinders with grooves for the needles at the verge thereof interspaced with grooves for the web holders and with a standing wall left between these grooves the following dimensions are given, which dimensions are common in fine gage machines and from these figures the impracticability of leaving integral walls between the slottings or grooves for the needles and web holders will be appreciated.

The machine herein shown has, say, a needle row of g of an inch in diameter. The circumference at the back of the needle is 1.9635, all measurements being in inches and fractions, thereof. There are forty-six needles in the circle. There is therefore .0426 space from needle center to needle center. The needles are .021 and the web holders .12 thick and it is customary to allow about .002 for excess width of the slots over the thickness of the web holders. Therefore the walls on each side of the web holders if made by sawing could be but .0038.

Four one-thousandths of an inch for a wall between the web holders and the needles is quite sufficient to be durable, stiff and reliable if made of tempered steel in the form of a quill or channeled piece but a wall of this thinness integral with and formed of the same soft metal as the cylinder and left standing as a result of the sawing is not practicable from the standpoint of durability, and stiffness, even if it were possible to make such an integral wall.

By my construction the needle slot may be made .030 and the quill may have walls .004 on each side of a groove or channel for the needle of .022 width, which is ample for the needle which is .021. The space between the quills is .0126, which permits the web holders nose to be .011 or .012 to work successfully.

The above figures apply to the machine shown herein and are standard measurements.

The quills are inserted in widened portions of the needle grooves of the needle cylinder. These widened portions of the full depth extend only to about the level of the lower edges of the web holders. Above this level there is practically no slotting of the needle cylinder, only a very shallow groove being present, if at all, at this point.

The channeled members described herein for guiding the needles are technically known in the knitting art as quills, and are so designated in some of the claims.

The needle cylinder is formed of a lower portion a and an upper portion 6, which is seated on the lower portion and both of said portions are provided with grooves, those in the upper portion being wider than the grooves of the lower portion and receiving thequills, the channels of which form continuations of the needle guiding grooves of the main portion of the cylinder. These quills abut at their lower ends upon the top naaaaao of the lower portion of the cylinder and are thereby alined with each other in proper position, andin this position the are secured by the swaging of the walls of t 1e upper porition into connection therewith. lit will be observed that not only are the grooves of the upper portion slightly wider than the grooves of the main portion of the needle portion, but are slightly deeper.

What I claim is: V

1. In combination, a needle cylinder, having grooves, quills inserted in said grooves and having openings in its walls, the walls of the cylinder between the grooves being swaged into the openings in the quill walls, substantially as described.

2. In combination, a needle cylinder, having grooves of a width to receive the needle stems and wider grooves above with a shoulder where the wider rooves join the lower grooves, and uills inserted in the wider grooves and alined b abutting said shoulder, substantially as escribed.

3. In combination, a needle cylinder having grooves, the walls of which terminate below the verge of the needle cylinder quills inserted in said grooves and extending above the point where said walls terminate and to the needle verge, and web holders operating through the spaces between the quills, the

side walls of said quills forming substantially continuations of the guide walls of the I cylinder top for the web holders, substantially as described.

4:. In combination, a needle cylinder having an upper portion formed separate from the lower portion and attached thereto said upper and lower portions being grooved and with the grooves in the upper portion wider than those in the lower portion, and quills located in the grooves of the upper portion, the said quills having their channels forming continuations of the grooves in the lower portion of the cylinder, substantially as described.

5. In combination, a needle cylinder having upper and lower portions separately formed and attached together, each of said portions being grooved, the grooves of the upper portion being wider and deeper than those of the lower portion, quills fixed in the grooves of the upper portion and "with their channels forming continuations of the grooves of the lower portion, said quills abutting at their lower ends against the top of the lower portion of the cylinder, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature.

FRANK WILCOMB. 

